Each week during the season, Parks’s Pulse will present a smattering of thoughts on the previous weekend’s games.
Ranking the games
1) Stallions 26, Panthers 22: Michigan has this week to lick their wounds before they try once again to finally defeat Birmingham. UFL fans would welcome a game this tight in the playoff rematch.
2) Roughnecks 24, Defenders 21: Jalan McClendon was one yard short of a touchdown that would’ve sealed the game with two minutes left; for D.C., Chris Rowland was one yard short of a three-point conversion that would’ve tied the game and sent it into overtime.
3) Battlehawks 39, Brahmas 13: It’s a broken record, but San Antonio had opportunities early, only to shoot themselves in the foot. St. Louis looked ready for playoff action.
4) Renegades 30, Showboats 13: Arlington got to pad their stats against Memphis, who despite turning over the roster in the off-season, seem to have the same positional weaknesses (QB, OL, defense) they had last year.
Fresch target
One of the more recent additions to San Antonio’s defense is CB Sean Fresch out of Rice University. He was eligible for the NFL Draft in April and had minicamp tryouts with the Kansas City Chiefs and New York Giants. He was thrown into the deep end of the pool in his first pro game on Friday, playing all 66 snaps per Pro Football Focus. Fresch drew a tough matchup against Hakeem Butler, though he defended him successfully at the goal line twice. Butler got the best of him on a double move in the fourth quarter for a 22-yard TD. It was the only reception Fresch gave up on four targets.
All-access moment of the week, part one
Much has been made of St. Louis QB Max Duggan’s elongated delivery of the ball. Mic’d up for the FOX broadcast on Friday, Duggan made light of it in a pre-game throwing session. “I know it’s coming out funky, man…I never threw a great spiral,” he told his receiver as he was warming up. Through his college career and two NFL training camps, Duggan hasn’t “fixed” the issue yet, so it seems unlikely to improve. Duggan has figured out how to work around it to the point that he has St. Louis set up to make the UFL playoffs as a true championship contender.
Proud papa, part one
An injury that will sideline CB Chris Payton-Jones for the remainder of the season and the playoffs opened the door for recent signee Micah Abraham to see time in St. Louis’s defensive backfield. The son of defensive coordinator Donnie Abraham, Micah was signed not long after he was let go by the Cincinnati Bengals. On Friday, the younger Abraham scooped up a fumble and ran it in for a touchdown. Though the camera was on his father in the booth, replay never showed Donnie’s reaction to his son’s big play.
Proud papa, part two
While the Panthers were on the losing end once again to the Stallions, it wasn’t the fault of Danny Etling, who picked up another start with Bryce Perkins sidelined for the second week in a row. Just like every other game he’s played in his football career, Danny’s dad Joe was there to watch. ABC’s Dawn Davenport interviewed Joe in the stands a few times during the game. Joe coached Danny in his younger days and credited his wife and family for allowing him the time to travel to watch all of Danny’s games throughout high school, college, and the pros.
Pop quiz
QB Alan Bowman is in his second stint in the UFL. After spending time earlier in the season as the emergency quarterback in Michigan, he was brought in on Wednesday by San Antonio with Kevin Hogan out injured. Bowman slotted in as the third quarterback, which meant he was the go-to for the FOX sideline reporter when trying to dissect play calls. Despite being there only two days and being put on the spot on national TV, Bowman acquitted himself well and was quite personable to boot.
Dance, dance Renegade
It was the second big game in a row for Renegades WR Tyler Vaughns, who made a number of highlight-reel catches in week eight. Vaughns credited ballet classes he took in high school for his skills as a receiver. You can see how that might improve footwork in and out of breaks, as well as along the sidelines when the rules require two feet in bounds. Often you’ll hear about quarterbacks taking ballet because footwork is so important at that position, but rarely do you hear about it with receivers. And Vaughns helpfully displayed a ballet move on the sideline when prompted by the announcer this weekend as well.
All-access moment of the week, part two
All-access works best when you have analysts in the booth that can translate for viewers at home what we’re hearing from players and coaches. A great example of that happened during the Arlington vs. Memphis game. Defensive coordinator Jarren Horton, after a play by his defense, frustratingly questioned to someone in his headset, “why are you going UNDER the puller?” ESPN’s Roddy Jones explained that the guilty party was linebacker Zeke Vandenburgh and showed on the replay what Horton was referring to: Vandenburgh trying to duck under the pulling offensive lineman, Ricky Lee, rather than through him and because of this, it opened up a massive hole and an eight-yard run by Renegades RB Dae Dae Hunter.
